Hilariously terrible

Rating: 4/10 (19 September 2014)

I enjoyed Pacific Rim. It was all very good fun to watch with friends. But that doesn't make it a good film, does it? Let's start with an example from the start of the movie: These humongous monsters start destroying the world, then, in a matter of a few months, humans develop enormous super robots to fight back. These are initially successful, but eventually the monsters become stronger and regain the upper hand. So, time for a change of strategy! Instead of fighting back with our Voltron-like super robots that probably cost all the world's resources, we are moving to plan B: build a ridiculously tall coastal wall, which apparently is meant to cover the entirety of land adjacent to the Pacific Ocean.
This is the amount of thought that went into Pacific Rim. A film where every turn of the plot (well, the "plot") can be foreseen, where the non-Americans are (very) expendable, and the Kaijus stay behind to guard a gate that cannot be breached unless they themselves pass through it - so let's just stay here in case the humans figure it out and want to come along. A film of course where the heroes are extremely happy to protect humanity by demolishing entire cities and probably killing millions in the process - but hey, if a robot and a monster fighting ten meters away from a fishing boat doesn't cause it any damage, maybe all is well.
Certainly, the more ridiculous it gets, the more fun it is. There is a certain pleasure in seeing a creature weighing 2000 tonnes (?) grabbing an equally large robot and then spreading its leather wings and taking flight. TO SPACE. Wherefrom the robot falls. In a stadium. And isn't damaged. At all. The clichés parade one after another, turning Pentecost into a sort of a cult character and the entire movie into an amusing ride, which couldn't however really be considered cinema. And for which I refuse to believe Del Toro couldn't have tried a little bit harder. On the plus side, the fight scenes are good (not chaotic with a camera spinning crazily for no reason or something)